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How to Be a Better Employee | 10 Productive Habits of Extremely Successful Individuals

Establishing productive habits for yourself can be one of the best things you do for yourself, your business, and your reputation whether you own your own company or work for an employer.

Daily actions create habits, and our habits determine who we are and how we present ourselves to the world. Our habits can even help us increase our odds of success should we choose to take part in productive habits that set us up for success rather than taking part in habits that steal our time or shortchange our rates of success and happiness.

How Establishing Productive Habits Can Change Your Profession:

Individuals who establish productive habits for themselves at the office not only accomplish more and get more done in a day but most of the time they also enjoy their work days more and suffer less stress because feel more organized too. This can create happier employees and employers all the way around for a healthier work environment that benefits everyone involved. Plus, we all know we enjoy a day at the office much more when we check off our to-do list and don’t feel like we’re running around in a million directions!

So if you’re struggling to develop productive habits for yourself and don’t know where to begin, take note of these 10 habits that productive individuals practice daily. You won’t just be getting more done in less time, but you’ll also likely be enjoying your workday much more too!

1. Start Early

You don’t have to get up before the sun comes up each day, but you should make it a practice to become a bit more of an early riser if you want to establish a healthy routine for yourself. Why so? Because people who have a healthy morning routine generally get more done in a day’s time. Try getting up just one hour earlier than you do now. In that one hour’s time, prioritize taking a few minutes to get your thoughts together for the day, eat a healthy breakfast while sitting down, and plan out your day. If you can fit in a morning workout, even better!

2. Workout Early

Speaking of exercise, it’s a smart decision to move your daily workout to the morning hours versus waiting until you get off work. Studies show that those who workout earlier in the morning are not only more dedicated to their workout routines but also more productive at work too. When you workout first thing, you get your endorphins flowing and adrenaline flowing which establishes a sense of drive and motivation you won’t get by waiting until you’re tired and ready to go home after work.

Don’t feel like you have to run 5 miles or spend an hour in the gym working out either, even just 30 minutes counts! A light jog, walk, some yoga, or even a session of HIIT all count towards your morning movement goals. The point of a morning workout is to get up, get moving, and get the blood flowing to help jumpstart your day!

3. Get Yourself a Planner and Write it Down

In order to “have it all together,” you’ll need to have a system put in place to help you get there. So get a planner and make a plan every single day where you list out your most important to-do’s first. When you have a list to look at that prioritizes your daily goals, you can easily see your tasks at hand instead of just imagining what they’ll all look like in your mind and getting to them when you have the time or when they cross your mind.

4. Fill up First

As mentioned, breakfast should be a part of your regular morning routine for optimal productivity each day.

Eating a healthy breakfast will help fuel your brain with the nutrients it needs to think more clearly and it will ensure your blood sugar levels stay stable throughout the morning. It’s important to choose something with lean protein, fiber, and eat whole foods as much as possible.

Foods rich in B vitamins and protein will also help improve your focus levels and reduce stress levels in the body to enhance productivity further. Avoid foods high in sugar which can increase stress levels and cause a harsher swing in blood sugar levels. Great options you can enjoy for breakfast include some whole grain oatmeal with berries and unsweetened Greek yogurt and stevia or banana slices, or you can have a green smoothie with protein powder and some berries, almonds, and chia seeds. Don’t feel like eating at home? Opt for any of these 5 healthy, portable breakfasts that you can take with you to the office instead!

Eating a healthy breakfast each day is one of the most important productive habits you can choose since it not only improves the way you perform mentally but also how you take care of yourself physically too.

5. Eat the Frog First

This is a popular saying that basically means to do the one thing you’re dreading the most at the very first part of your day. Maybe it’s your monthly budget or making out an employee schedule for the month. Whatever it is, do that one thing first and it will likely help you feel less stressed throughout the day knowing you don’t still have your most dreaded task ahead of you. If you need help with employee schedules, you can also take advantage of Zip Schedules to help you plan your schedules more appropriately and easily at work and on-the-go.

6. Keep a Tidy Work Space

While no one gets paid or gets a raise based on how tidy their office is, having a clean office can make you more productive each day because there is less physical clutter which can mean less mental clutter for you. Having a spacious, clean office can help you feel more organized and make it easier to find necessary documents or have room to plan. Even just walking into a pleasant-looking space can make you feel at ease more and give your mind room to think more clearly.

If you don’t have a traditional office, do your best to keep your work space around you as organized as possible. It won’t only improve the way you focus and feel at work, but it may help you get more done too!

7. Eat a Balanced Lunch

Don’t skip your lunch break and down an extra coffee and a bagel or donut for lunch if you want to stay productive during the day. In fact, you should consider having a balanced lunch one of the most productive habits you can establish for yourself and your work productivity skills.

Why so?

Because just like breakfast helps you start your day off right, a healthy lunch can help power you through the rest of the day and feel less stressed. The body doesn’t operate optimally when it’s forced to run on high levels of sugar, refined carbs, caffeine, and too many heavy fats throughout the day. You’ll benefit much more by choosing a meal with some lean protein, sources of fiber from fresh foods and whole grains, and by adding in healthy, plant-based fats from real foods versus packaged foods.

8. Turn Off Your Smartphone Notifications

Smartphones seem as though they save our lives on busy work days and it’s true that they help us feel more organized. However, if you don’t have your notifications turned off on your smartphone, it’s very easy to waste time on social media and procrastinate on getting to your most important assignments and daily work tasks.

While checking your notifications might make you feel good in the moment, at the end of the day it will just make you more stressed when you realize how little you actually got done from constantly checking your feed or responding to messages on Twitter and Facebook. So turn off those notifications and set periodic times throughout the day that you’ll allow yourself to check them such as on an afternoon coffee break or on your lunch break.

9. Use a Calendar App

There are multiple types of calendar apps available that you can use for your desktop, tablet, and smartphone. And if there’s a type of notification you’re going to want to get your attention, it’s those from your calendar alerting you of your important work meetings and deadlines.

Some calendar apps even have integrated tools that allow you to set timers for yourself so you don’t spend too long on one task. Others like Google calendars will sync with your Gmail so that you never forget to add meetings and important phone calls to your calendar.

Take advantage of these apps and use them daily to get more done and feel more organized doing all of it.

10. Get to Bed Early

One of the best things that you can do every single night to ensure you stay productive around the clock is to make it a point to go to bed early, or at least in time to get 7-8 hours of a full night’s rest. It’s not worth it to stay up late catching up on a show that won’t matter tomorrow or trying to work late into the wee hours of the night if it will just hurt your performance the next day. So go to bed early so that you can get up early the next morning and have a great breakfast, workout, and start your day off on the right foot.

Getting enough sleep is one of the most productive habits you can make for yourself both physically and mentally. It can even help you crave fewer stimulants like sugar and caffeine and it will help you to have higher energy levels too.

Personalize Your Productivity Habits Even Further…

These 10 productive habits are a great place to start, but don’t stop there; keep looking for new ways to stay productive that work best for you and your schedule or specific career. For instance, some people do much better by writing things down while others benefit more from using tech software instead. You might also feel more productive while working in the quiet while others will work better with soft music in the background.

Know yourself well enough to know how you function and operate best during the day, and then do whatever you have to do in order to make yourself the most productive form of you possible while still challenging yourself a bit too!